This is the Polygala of the Heisteria family, which we last month engaged to lay before our readers. They will now have an opportunity, from our copious dissections of the flowers, of judging of the great and numerous generical differences which exist between a genuine Polygala and the discarded genus Heisteria. All the Heisteriæ we have yet had an opportunity of examining are heptandrous; all the true Polygalæ octandrous: but these are the least of their distinctions. The Fox-tail Milkwort is a very elegant shrub of the green-house kind, and is often in flower. It was recently raised from Cape seeds in the Clapham collection, and is at present, we believe, in no other: thrives well in a mixture of bog earth and loam, and is capable of propagation by cuttings. [Illustration] PLATE CCCLXXII. MIMOSA PURPUREA. _Soldier Bush Mimosa._ CLASS XXIII. ORDER I. _POLYGAMIA MONOECIA._ Various Dispositions. Upon one Plant. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. HERMAPH. Calyx 5-dentatus. Cor. 5-fida. Stam. 5 seu plura. Pist. 1. Legumen. Mascul. Calyx 5-dentatus, Cor. 5-fida. Stam. 5-1O, plura. HERMAPH. Cup 5-toothed. Blos. 5-cleft. Chives 5 or more. Pointal one. A Pod. Male. Cup 5-toothed. Blos. 5-cleft. Chives, 5, 10, or more. SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C. MIMOSA, inermis, foliis conjugatis pinnatis, foliolis intimis minoribus. _Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. 3. p. 1500._ M. foliis tergeminis. _Plum. Ic. t. 10. f. 2._ MIMOSA, unarmed, with leaves conjugate prinnate, and the inner leaflets smaller. M. with leaves three times twinned. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. A single flower. 2. The cup. 3. The blossom. 4. The seed-bud and pointal. The Mimosa purpurea is a native of the West Indies, and is there known by the expressive appellation of Soldier Bush; from the plants being sometimes almost covered with their bright red-purple flowers, in which state it is said they are visible, and even cognizable, on the sides of hills, at the distance of a mile. The Soldier Bush in this country must be treated as a tender hot-house shrub, and kept constantly in the tan-bed, planted in rich earth. It is a plant of handsome growth and foliage; but its charming flowers are so very rare, that we do not recollect seeing any of them except those which are here represented, from a plant which flowered in March last, in the collection of Mrs. Wright at Bayswater. It is propagated by cuttings in the usual way. [Illustration] PLATE CCCLXXIII. PÆONIA SUFFRUTICOSA. _Shrubby Pæony._ CLASS XIII. ORDER V. _POLYANDRIA PENTAGYNIA._ Many Chives. Five Pointals. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. CALYX 5-phyllus. Petala 5. Styli 0. Capsulæ polyspermæ. CUP 5-leaved. Petals 5. Pointal none. Capsules many-seeded. SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C. PÆONIA, foliolis subtus glaucis et villosis, capsulis sericeis, caule suffruticoso. PÆONY, with leaflets glaucous and villose beneath, capsules silky, and shrubby stem.